Why bother to cleanse data?

1. It's the law. These are the eight principles put in place by the Data Protection Act 1998. Good data management will ensure that all these principles are in place. Data cleansing specifically covers principles 4 and 7.

Principles

These state that data must be:

fairly and lawfully processed

processed for limited purposes

adequate, relevant and not excessive

accurate

not kept for longer than is necessary

processed in line with your rights

secure

not transferred to countries without adequate protection

By law data controllers have to keep to these principles

2. Cost. If data is not cleansed regularly and properly, there is a greater margin for mistakes to be made. This may be a simple case of experiencing 'gone aways' when a mailing is carried out or it could be more costly if a TPS/CTPS registered individual is contacted by telephone.

3 Reputation. We all receive mail from companies in our business and personal lives - some companies we know and some companies we don't know. If mail is received incorrectly spelt and/or to a previous occupant, worse still addressed to someone who has died, this company's reputation is adversely affected and the mail will almost certainly go in the bin. Without data cleansing, companies may as well cut out the middle man and junk the mail in the first place.

Data management in the right hands is effective from the a cost and reputation point of view - don't let your data let you down - contact Leadline today.